Kofukuji Temple is Japan's first Chinese temple of the Obaku sect. It can be traced to the time when the merchants of China's Ming Dynasty, who frequented the route to Nagasaki, constructed a small monastery here in 1620 as a place to pray for a safe voyage.

At that time, the Japanese government's prohibition on Christianity was especially virulent, and even the Chinese residents of Nagasaki - who were also at risk of being suspected as Christians - felt it necessary to prove they were Buddhists by building a series of Chinese Buddhist temples, Kofuku-ji Temple being the first.

The Meganebashi "Spectacles" Bridge, Japan's oldest stone bridge, was built by Mokusunyoujo, a Zen master of the second generation of Kofukuji Temple. Also, it is famous as the temple from which the Buddhist Zen master Ingen, high priest of China, entered a monastery. The temple precincts house many cultural assets such as the Daiyu Treasure House, a nationally designated important cultural property, while Kofukuji Temple and surroundings are also considered a prefecturally-designated historical landmark.